THE OOLOGiST 



one heard after July on the marshes, 

 with the exception of the ditty of the 

 Long-billed Marsh Wren. 



Chapman (Bird Studies with a Cam- 

 era, pp. 72-75) gives an interesting ac- 

 count of the Least Bittern devouring 

 its eggs, but, although I have exam- 

 ined about a hundred nests of this spe- 

 cies containing eggs, I have never been 

 so fortunate as to have such an inter- 

 esting occurrence to come under my 

 observation. I have found a few nests 

 containing broken eggs and collected 

 sets with eggs having small punctures, 

 scratches and striations in the shell. 

 The punctures appeared to have been 

 made by the Long-billed Marsh Wrens 

 jabbing their bills in them, and I have 

 read this bird was guilty of such an 

 offense, but what caused the peculiar 

 striations and scrotches has always 

 puzzled me as well as the cause of a 

 nestful of broken eggs. 



Richard F. Miller. 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



Notes From Virginia. 



This has been a very open winter, 

 and the Bald Eagles started laying on 

 February 9th instead of the 22d. W. 

 B. Crispen, the well known New Jer- 

 sey Oologist came down, and we took 

 in twenty-two nests, only getting five 

 sets in all, — of these he will tell THE 

 OOLOGIST readers in detail. March 

 16th found Bluebirds with five eggs, 

 incubation begun, the earliest I have 

 ever known. 



March 30th found one pair of Pine 

 Warblers with eggs, 80 feet up in a 

 pine tree, 22 feet out from the trunk. 

 Needless to say I didn't secure this 

 set. As usual, the Flying squirrels 

 this spring have driven out and broken 

 up many Carolina Chickadees and 

 Brown-headed Nuthatches. 



Sunday the 13th of Ai)ril, found most 

 oi the Pine Warblers and Carolina 

 Chickadees with full sets, while the 



18th found these warblers and Screech 

 Owls with sets far advanced. This 

 date proved a record for Tufted Tit- 

 mice in this section, a beautiful set of 

 eight being taken, the largest set I 

 ever found, and think of it — in a hole 

 I could reach from the ground, without 

 cutting to reach the eggs. 



H. H. Bailey. 

 Virginia. 



Statement of the Ownership, Manage- 

 ment, Etc. 



Of The Oologist, published monthly at 

 Albion, N. Y., required by the Act of 

 August 24, 1912. 



Editor, R. M. Barnes, Lacon, 111.; 

 Managing Editor, R. M. Barnes, Lacon,, 

 111.; Business Manager, R. M. Barnes,, 

 Lacon, 111.; Publisher, R. M. Barnes,, 

 Lacon, 111. 



Owners: 2 Not a corporation. I, R. 

 M. Barnes, of Lacon, 111., owns this, 

 publication exclusively. 



Known bondholders, mortgagees,, 

 and other security holders, holding L 

 per cent, or more of total amount of 

 bonds, mortgages, or other securities: 

 There are no bonds, no securities and 

 no debts. The Oologist owes no one. 

 R. M. BARNES, 



Editor. 

 Sworn to and subscribed before me 



this 26th day of April, 1913. 



Erma Thieoski, 

 (Seal) Notary Public. 



Commission expires Mar. 9, 1915. 



Anent The House Sparrow. 

 (Passer domesticus) 

 In March, 1906 OOLOGIST, were 

 published some notes of the writer 

 anent the English Sparrow, which, if 

 I recollect correctly, I had sent to the 

 editor (Frank H. Lattin) about four 

 years previously — in 1902 — and which 

 I was surprised to see in print, as I 

 thought the article had been re.iect- 

 ed and consigned to the waste basket. 



